Bottling success
How a global journey of learning, languages, and leadership shaped Robert Cornella’s (BSBA ’93, MBA ’95) career spanning companies from EY to Coca-Cola to Republic National Distributing Company.
As the grandson of immigrants from Northern Italy, Robert Cornella (BSBA ’93, MBA ’95) had the opportunity to travel to his familial homeland multiple times with his father. Seeing different parts of the world from a young age would prove to be the inspiration for Cornella’s career that has spanned seven countries and multiple international businesses.
“[Going to Italy] changed my perspective on the world in that it made me realize that there is such a large and fascinating world out there to be discovered,” he said. “It drove my desire to study overseas, learn other languages, and then eventually led me to the opportunity to have an international career with several multinational companies.”
First sips: Early tastes of business and finance
Originally from the New York/New Jersey area, Cornella’s family moved to Boca Raton, Florida when he was in grade school. When it came time to attend college, Cornella’s interest in finance spurred his decision to attend the University of Florida because of its reputation for excellence in the subject.
“My mother got me a subscription to Money Magazine when I was young, and I just devoured every issue,” he recalled. “I started investing in stocks and learning more about the economics that drive markets and the psychology behind investment decisions. I was always excited about those subjects, so pursuing a degree in finance and economics felt natural to me.”
Cornella’s undergraduate education set him up for early success, earning him a job offer at a large bank once he graduated. At the same time, he was ever curious for more insight into the world of higher-level global finance and decided to apply to the University of Florida’s MBA program.
His acceptance into the MBA program and his father’s advice to take on as many educational opportunities as he could before he started his career convinced Cornella to pursue his MBA instead of the bank position.
During his time in the MBA program, Cornella got to experience more of Europe when he completed a joint program between the University of Florida and EM Lyon Business School in France. Despite initially struggling with his classes that were taught in French, Cornella was able to overcome the language barrier thanks to a lot of extra time after class in the university’s language lab, as well as taking every opportunity to speak in French.
Pouring the foundation: Finance on an international stage
Returning from France with his MBA in hand, Cornella started in his first role out of college at Ernst & Young’s Atlanta office. In this role, he was frequently on the road to domestic and international locations while working with several multinational clients.
The work led to an opportunity to return to Europe, this time to Switzerland, to help EY start a middle market corporate finance practice as well as the opportunity to learn another new language – German.
Despite many long hours and having to do business in a different language, Cornella views the EY experience as an outstanding training ground both for himself and others who wish to follow a similar path in finance.
“The Big 4 and EY offer some of the most rigorous professional training opportunities for anyone who wants to go into accounting and finance work,” he said. “[An experience like that] gives you a stamp of credibility in the business world and indicates you’re a strong and adaptable performer.”
Brewing a career: From Coca-Cola to Costa Coffee
Following the completion of his work in Switzerland, Cornella had no sooner repatriated back to the United States when he received a call from The Coca-Cola Company. The call was about a role on their corporate M&A team and potentially working in a country where he’d already had quite a bit of practice with the language – Germany.
From there, Cornella progressed into several divisional CFO roles within Coca-Cola around the world. He ultimately became CFO in early 2020 of Costa Coffee in London, the Coca-Cola-owned second-largest retail coffee company in the world.
After almost two decades in Europe and 17 years with Coca-Cola’s global businesses, Cornella was ready to return to Coca-Cola in the United States. In early 2022, as the world’s economy was rebounding from the pandemic, Cornella received several calls from companies that were looking for experienced global CFOs to help grow their businesses to the next level.
After years in the beverage industry, Cornella received an enticing offer from a leading global tech company. However, just before accepting, he was drawn back to the beverage industry with an opportunity to be the CFO at Atlanta-based Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC), a leading beverage alcohol distributor and one of the largest private companies in the U.S.
“I didn’t necessarily set out to work in beverages, but I personally enjoy working for companies and brands that consumers enjoy and that are a tangible part of our everyday lives,” he said. “The beverage industry, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, continues to evolve and innovate at a rapid pace. I enjoy being part of this dynamism and collaborating with suppliers and partners to figure out how we can continue to meet the need the evolving need states of consumers.”
“Wine and spirits for example have been at the center of social gatherings, religious ceremonies, and medicinal practices alike for literally thousands of years and will for thousands more, I’m sure.”
Refreshing perspective: Navigating the beverage industry
In his role, Cornella focuses on all finance functions of the business, including areas like M&A, commercial finance, controllership, treasury, procurement, and investor (board) relations, among others. As the middle section of a three-tier beverage alcohol industry in the U.S., RNDC’s finance function works collaboratively with its supplier partners and commercial teams to grow and financially steward the business, Cornella explained.
While the wines and spirits brands that RNDC distributes are steeped in history, the company is focused on evolving the digital capabilities of its finance function.
“Historically, the distributor tier of the beverage alcohol industry was not at the forefront of digital or technological evolution,” Cornella said. “With increasingly accessible and widely available digital and AI tools however, our industry is evolving at a rapid pace, as indeed many industries are.”
For RNDC, a few of those advancements being put into place next year include using new financial dashboards and performance management tracking tools, testing AI tools to identify volume and margin enhancement opportunities, pinpointing more precise demand forecasting, and facilitating financial decision making thanks to robotic process automation that can synthesize large quantities of data.
Uncorked insights: Learning and leadership
Even with his years of experience, evolving RNDC’s digital capabilities requires new skills, especially in AI and analytics, that Cornella readily pursues through additional certificates and micro-credentials.
“I believe that learning is a lifelong endeavor,” he said. “We are never done learning as the worlds of business, technology, and society are all constantly changing around us. We all need to keep our skills relevant.”
While Cornella is always looking to grow his skills for the future, he consistently goes back to some tried-and-true advice that he recommends for any professional looking to advance their leadership abilities.
First, focus on what matters the most to move the needle.
“Don’t try to boil the ocean in one go,” he said. “You can’t try and do everything all at once or you risk burning yourself and/or your employees out. Focus on the most impactful things first – i.e., the metrics and work that matter the most to move the business forward.”
Second, understand that no person is an island.
“Be humble enough to ask others for help,” he said. “You can’t be expected to know everything or take all the burdens of leadership upon yourself. No matter what leadership positions we may find ourselves in, we all still need mentors and people to use as unbiased sounding boards to help us think through problems and challenges.”
Pairing passion and profession
Having returned to Atlanta, where he began his career, Cornella continues to travel to Europe during his free time. He spends time outdoors, combining his interest in wine with visits to vineyards in the Trentino region of Italy, his family’s place of origin.
“I can remember cooking traditional Northern Italian dishes with my family, and visiting [that area now] has me rediscovering my passion for the region and finding as many Northern Italian wines when I travel to Italy as I can. The Barolos and Brunellos of central and northern Italy are some of my favorites.”
